Putin has ‘$hadow’y secret girlfriend
His secret girlfriend has lots of secret wealth.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged longtime mistress has an estimated net worth of $100 million in “shadow wealth” — including swanky apartments and a yacht — despite her modest background, according to the trove of leaked financial files known as the Pandora Papers.
Svetlana Krivonogikh, 46, has been romantically linked with the Russian strongman since he was deputy mayor of her hometown of St. Petersburg, and she reportedly has a daughter with him.
But Krivonogikh, who grew up in a communal apartment, has been enriched along with other cronies of Putin through shell companies in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere, The Guardian reported.
In September 2003, a British Virgin Islands company called Brockville Development Ltd. — through two Panamanian firms — bought Krivonogikh a luxury fourth-floor apartment in Monte Carlo.
She has also acquired an apartment in St. Petersburg and other valuable assets, according to The Guardian.
Krivonogikh is far from alone in benefiting from a longstanding relationship with Putin.
For years, some of Putin’s inner circle have gravitated to Monaco, where lax tax laws and policies have made the waterfront city a favorite for the wealthy.
“It has become Moscow-onSea. The mentality is to show off,” local lawyer Dominique Anastasis told The Guardian.
“Nobody asks where your money comes from. There’s no culture of checking. You don’t make a tax declaration.”
Among the wealthiest of the Russian-Monaco circle is Gennady Timchenko, a former Soviet bureaucrat who has been Putin’s friend since the 1990s.
A former oil trader, Timchenko was given an oil-export license by Putin in 1991 and later co-founded a Swiss-based oil exporter named Gunvor — with the Russian president long rumored to be a silent partner in the firm.
Forbes reported Timchenko’s net worth at $27.7 billion.
Another member of Putin’s inner circle is Peter Kolbin, an old family friend.
Kolbin took over as director of the Leningrad-based International Petroleum Products in 2003 despite having few qualifications for the job.
Putin has denied ties to the lucrative companies detailed in the Pandora Papers.
But jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has referred to Putin as “the world’s richest man,” according to The Guardian.